"The economy the way it is and with budgets being very tight, that money is very beneficial to us," Catona said.

The fire engine will be used by the school's firefighting program, which is one of more than 20 career technical education programs offered at the high school.

The school's automobile shop will get a chance to train on the fire engine as well.

Ken Binder, the school's automobile instructor, said one benefit will be being able to teach his students about working on a heavy diesel engine, which the school didn't have before.

Tyler Ferro, a 17-year-old auto shop student, said he was surprised when the school got the engine, and he is interested in learning all about diesel engines.

He added the skills he'll learn will translate over to trucks, generators and more.

The school's firefighting program is headed by Ken Johnson, who said the 16 students in the program will now be able to use the fire engine to train in hose lay, mobile attacks, and how to operate the engine.

Johnson has been teaching at the high school for about 30 years, and he's a volunteer firefighter as well.

He said the program teaches students about firefighting basics, which he says people interested in a firefighting career need to know.

Johnson said his students have gone on to work in Shasta and Butte counties as well as at Tehama County Fire.

The city fire department has been working with the program for the past two years, said Catona, who added that his crew usually meets with students about twice a week.

"Our goal is to prepare them for a fire academy and also fire service," he said. "So it's almost like a pre-fire academy."

Catona said the program also reinforces the skills city fire personnel need to know, and also teaches them how to be instructors.

The fire engine, which was retired in 2005, was in service fore more than 30 years with the city, Catona said.

"Because of its age, we retired it," he said.

"But it's still good enough to train with."

Johnson said he will now be able to review what his students have learned from city fire personnel after they leave.

"Now we can actually have hands on experience," Johnson said.

He added: "Now we can go out and there's actually drills that are state requirements that we can actually do with these kids and tell them this is the criteria.

If you want to be a firefighter, this is the criteria from the state."

--------- Andre Byik can be reached at 527-2151, ext. 111 or at sports@redbluffdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter: @TehamaSports